Бенеден мектебінің тарихы мен дамуы

Girls' school in Benenden near Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England

The first property on the site was a house built by Robert of Hemsted in 1216. In the late 14th century, Richard II granted the manor to William of Guldeford. Elizabeth I visited Thomas Guldeford at the house and he was knighted by her at Rye a few days later.

The school was founded in 1923 by three teachers from Wycombe Abbey—Christine Sheldon, Anne Hindle, and Kathleen Bird—who aimed to create a "happy school with personal integrity and service to others always in mind, where everyone would be given the chance to follow her own bent". It hence maintains sister school ties with Wycombe Abbey, as well as Godstowe Preparatory School, High Wycombe, and St Leonards School. In July 1923 the first council meeting of the new school was held and 24 girls were registered. The new school had a temporary home in Bickley for the first term while the three founders set about finding a new permanent site, requiring at least seventy bedrooms and large grounds. In January 1924 Hemsted Park, near the village of Benenden in Kent, was leased to the founders, and the school was named Benenden School, to avoid confusion with Hemel Hempstead. In March 1924 the prospectus of Benenden School (Kent) Limited was issued, with shares priced at £10 each; five shares entitled the holder to a nomination to the school. Every parent was encouraged to pay a year's fees in advance. In September 1924 there were 126 girls on the school roll, and in October 1924 the new Benenden School bought Hemsted House for £20,000. 1927 was an important year for Benenden, with the number of girls reaching 200. The first general inspection was made and Benenden was recognised as 'efficient'. The Seniors' Association was established, and the school magazine was inaugurated. As the school grew, so more boarding houses were established or constructed: Norris House in 1924, Medway and Marshall in 1925, Echyngham in 1930, and Guldeford in 1936. The dining room was also built in 1936, with the school hall following in 1938. In 1940, the school was evacuated from Kent, moving into the Hotel Bristol in Newquay, Cornwall, led by Christine Sheldon and Kathleen Bird, two of the founders. Anne Hindle stayed at Benenden to look after the estate and persuaded the Ministry of Health to use Benenden as a military hospital. On 3 August 1944, Jean Maridor, a Free French pilot, died when his aircraft crashed close to the school buildings and military hospital. He had just destroyed a German V 1 flying bomb the explosion from which also destroyed his own aircraft. The founders retired in 1954 and Elizabeth Clarke became headmistress. In 1963 Princess Anne and Princess Basma of Jordan became pupils at Benenden. Janet Allen became headmistress in 1976. The Jubilee Wing was opened by Janet Allen and Kathleen Bird in 1977. Gillian du Charme became headmistress in 1985. The new Guldeford House opened the following year. The 1987 hurricane hit Benenden hard and over 250 trees were lost in the parkland. Further expansion to the school began with the opening of the new science and medical wing, Leelands, in 1988. SPLASH opened in 1990. Two further sixth form houses opened in 1993 (Limes and Oaks). The 75th anniversary of the school was celebrated in 1998–99 with a service at St Paul's Cathedral and a programme of special events for seniors at Benenden, St James's Palace and other London venues. The book Benenden: A Great Company by David Souden was published. The school play, written for the occasion, A Great Company was performed at Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket. Claire Oulton, Head of St Catherine's Bramley and a graduate from Somerville College, Oxford, was appointed headmistress in 2000. In 2001 the Clarke Centre with the Eugenia Leung Library was completed. Norris House was redeveloped in 2003, creating new study bedrooms. The school dining room and cloisters were refurbished. The "new stage" theatre fundraising campaign was launched. The new theatre was opened by Helena Bonham Carter in 2007. Grease was its first production in December of that year. The Seniors' Window was added to the chapel as part of a refurbishment and rededication. The following year the eco classroom, a totally self sustaining building, opened in the Victorian Water Gardens. In 2008, there were about 525 girls aged eleven to eighteen, of whom 182 were in the sixth form. The average class size was 16, and there were 75 schoolteachers, making a teacher pupil ratio of 1:7. All girls were prepared for GCSE, AS Level, A Level, and universities, and academic, sport, drama, art, music, and design technology scholarships were available. In that year the Good Schools Guide called the school "[e]veryone's idea of a traditional, up market, girls' boarding school, though not remotely hidebound by tradition."

Frida Leakey worked here as a French teacher before she discovered a gorge of human fossils in Tanganyika.

Kent Music Summer School has been held at Benenden School since 1948.